Ryan Murphy108 S. Belvedere, Apt. #205

Richmond, VA 23220Phone: 757-752-4141

murphyrj@vcu.edu

JOURNALISTIC EXPERIENCECorrespondent, Capital News Service; Richmond, Va. - Spring 2012 - Reported from the Virginia State Capitol on behalf of over 70 news organizations

- Published in newspapers and news websites throughout the state

- Worked closely with editors as a correspondent for the Petersburg Progress-Index

Founding President, Mesh Media; Richmond, Va. — September 2009 - May 2012 - Act as an Executive Editor, overseeing an organization of more than 50 students

- Produce print and multimedia content

- Maintain a network of websites (See: MeshRVA.com)

- Completed the requirements to become an official VCU Student Medium

Managing Editor, The Horn; Richmond, Va. — August 2010 - January 2012 - Plan and assign stories for a staff of over 25 students

- Edit assignments for AP style

- Create, edit and produce multimedia and print content

- Maintain and update website (See: TheHornRVA.com)

Internship, Virginia Press Association; Richmond, Va. — Fall 2010 - Wrote extensively-researched profiles of Virginia regions and counties

- Managed and updated web content

- Gave feedback on web design and layout

Teen Correspondent, The Virginian-Pilot; Norfolk, Va. — Fall 2008 - Spring 2009 - Covered events and wrote editorials for a teenaged audience

EDUCATIONVirginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

- Anticipated Graduation Date: May 2013

- Major: Mass Communications - Print Journalism

- Minors: Writing and Religious Studies

SKILLS - Experience as a copy editor with a command of AP style

- Experience with feature writing, profiles, event and beat reporting

- Video, photographic, research and interview experience

- Ample experience with blogging, website management and social media

- Experience with multimedia editing software (Audacity, Final Cut, Adobe Suite)

Monday, March 5, 2012 DAILY PRESS 3NEWS LOCAL

HAMPTON — High-valuehomes overlook Mill Creek and acity-built kayak pier at the end ofEast Mellen Street. That vision inthe city’s Phoebus master planmay be revised before it everbecomes reality.The city is negotiating with the

Boston-baseddesign teamhired toplan the future uses of FortMonroe to take another look atthree of the city’s neighborhoodmaster plans. The Buckroe, Phoe-bus and downtown master plansmay change, or they may not, butCity Manager Mary Bunting saidthe documents deserve a secondlook.Sasaki Associates could work

with the original design team,

Urban Design Associates, of Pitts-burgh, to revamp those plans,Bunting said.City planners have repeatedly

said they believe increased tour-ism at Fort Monroe will positivelyaffect neighboring communities.“We may want to create a

partnership to look at those gate-way communities,” Bunting toldthe City Council during its Feb. 22

meeting.The existing master plans for

those neighborhoods would notbe scrapped, she said, althoughthey could be updated to becomecompatible with future planningat the historic fort.Sasaki’s master plan for Fort

Monroe is expected to cost about$500,000, although the cost couldvary depending on the scope of

work requested by the Fort Mon-roe Authority. The price for therevamped community plans is notyet known.While the Office of Economic

Adjustment is paying for the FortMonroe plan, the city will likelyneed to fund any updates to itsneighborhood master plans —many of which were completedbetween 2004 and 2007.The City Council will also need

to approve anyplans tohire SasakiAssociates, Bunting said.As the process to map Fort

Monroe’s future evolves, CityCouncil members said they al-ready see how the national parkand historic atmosphere of theproperty will affect the surround-ing neighborhoods.Vice Mayor George Wallace

says he sees the North Beach areadrawing hundreds of sunbatherseach day who, presently, wouldneed to drive to Buckroe orPhoebus to get ameal or supplies.“It conjures up the need for

connectivity,” Wallace told theCity Council on Feb. 22. “What Isee ... is the economic viabilitydown there would come fromPhoebus andBuckroe.”Wallace has repeatedly asked

about connecting Fort Monroe toBuckroe by a walkway, road orbridge.The North Beach Area also

makes up the bulk of the NationalPark Servicemonument.Bunting said she will keep the

City Council updated on talkswithSasakiconcerning thosemas-ter plans.

HAMPTON

City considers revamping ‘gateway communities’

DAILY PRESS FILE PHOTO

An aerial view is shown of Mill Creek near Fort Monroe. City of Hamptonofficials are asking Sasaki Associates to revisit neighborhood masterplans in Phoebus, Buckroe and downtown.

Hamptonmaster plansUrban Design Associates’master plans werecompleted for:Downtown Hampton:January 2004Coliseum Central:September 2004Buckroe: March 2005Kecoughtan Corridor:January 2006King Street Corridor:March 2007Phoebus: July 2007

Planners reviewingmaster plans forBuckroe, Phoebus,downtown

By Robert Brauchlerbrauchle@dailypress.com |757-247-2827

shore Act. The federal programprovides more generous coveragethan the state workers’ compsystem,Miller said.Miller said the proposed law

would eliminate redundancy andexpedite the claims process.“Currently, employees file two

claims for a single injury. We(employers) must then performadministrative processing of twoclaims, even though more than 95percent wind up being a Long-

they qualify for coverage underthe federal Longshore andHarborWorkers’ CompensationAct.Outlaw said the union had

fought the issue in the GeneralAssembly for two years. IfMcDonnell signs the bill into law,hesaid, itwouldhurt employeesatVirginia’s shipyards and ports.“It would be a travesty,” Outlaw

said. He said the lawwould “leavea lot of our workers outside of thecoverage they should have.”Christine Miller, a spokeswom-

an for Newport News Shipbuild-ing, disputed that, saying the lawwould affect fewer than 5 percentofworkerswho file claims.She said the vast majority of

shipyard employees haveworkers’comp coverage under the Long-

RICHMOND — Union mem-bers are urging Gov. Bob McDon-nell to veto legislation that wouldexclude shipyard and dock work-ers from Virginia’s workers’ com-pensation system.“We will continue to fight this

bill, whether he signs it or not,”said Arnold Outlaw, president ofUnited Steelworkers of AmericaLocal 8888, which representsabout 8,000 hourly workers atNewportNews Shipbuilding.The Senate and the House of

Delegates both have passed a billthat would prohibit injured work-ers from filing claims under thestate workers’ comp program if

shore (Act) claim,”Miller said.“This bill allows us to focus

more energy on return-to-workprograms, vocational rehabilita-tion and other programs benefit-ing injured employees.”The legislation, which was

sponsored by Del. R. LeeWare Jr.,R-Powhatan,would bringVirginiain line with 11 other states, in-cluding Maryland, Florida andTexas,Miller said.Under the existing system, in-

jured workers cannot collectworkers’ comp from the state andfederal programs simultaneously.The state program serves as abackup if the federal system de-nies a claim or federal paymentsrun out, Outlaw said.He said the new law would

remove this safety net for injuredworkers.“We’re not out there hurting

ourselves on purpose,” he said.

“It’s all about denying theworkersof Virginia their due rights if theyget hurt on the job.”According to the governor’s

office,McDonnell is reviewing thebill and hasn’t decidedwhether tosign or veto it.If the votes in the General

Assembly are any indication, it’slikely the Republican governorwill signthebill into law.Thevotesare split cleanly down party lines,with all Republicans voting for themeasure andalmost allDemocratsvoting against it.The only deviations were a pair

of Democrats from HamptonRoads. Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, sided with the Repub-licans, allowing the bill to pass inthe Senate on a 20-19 vote. In theHouse, Del. Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomac, who represents parts ofNorfolk and Virginia Beach, alsocrossed the aisle in a 70-26 vote.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Shipyard union: Kill workers’ comp billMembers ask McDonnell to veto legislationthat excludes them from state programBy RyanMurphyCapital News Service

Under the existingsystem, injured workerscannot collect workers’comp from the stateand federal programssimultaneously.

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http://progress-index.com/new s/hopew ell-native-takes-off ice-at-state-capitol-delegate-michael-b-w atson-1.1261348 March 9, 2012

Hopewell native takes office at state Capitol DelegateMichael B. Watson

Delegate Michael B. Watson works in his office in the GeneralAssembly Building in Richmond.

watson

RICHMOND - A man graduates with a degree from acommunity college and works his way up to start his ownbusiness. With a work ethic instilled in him by his salt-of-the-earth father, the small-business owner wins election to publicoffice.

It sounds like the pedigree of any number of politicians who'vepulled themselves up by their bootstraps - and that descriptionfits at least one Virginia state delegate, Mike Watson. Like apresidential hopeful, Watson loves to wax patriotic about thecountry that gave him everything.

"Where else in the world can the son of a tugboat captain andtech school graduate have that opportunity?" Watson said, justdays after moving into his office on the seventh floor of theGeneral Assembly Building, yards from the Virginia Capitol."My fundamental belief is, if you work for it, you can get it."

Watson, a Hopewell native, is the new Republican delegaterepresenting Virginia's 93rd House District, which includesparts of York County, James City County, Newport News andWilliamsburg. Watson's residence in Williamsburg is just ashort trip up the James River from Hopewell, where he grewup.

Before he had any political aspirations, Watson's communityactivism started as a teenager in Hopewell in the late 1970s.

"Hopewell was looking at getting rid of its machine shopprogram," said Watson, who attended the program for threeyears while at Hopewell High School. "I wrote letters to theeditor and just spoke out against it at age 16 or something."

The future legislator was driven not by some intangibleidealism but by practical concerns - employment prospects forgraduating students.

"I knew there were jobs out there for these skills," Watson said. "Why would we want to give upteaching young people how to do this?"

After graduating from Hopewell High, Watson attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk and NewRiver Community College in Dublin, in the far southwestern tip of Virginia. He received hisassociate's degree in instrumentation technology from New River in 1983.

Since then, Watson has started two businesses, one of which won North Carolina's Business of the

Year Award in 1998. He also was a finalist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Blue ChipEnterprise Award.

Watson, 50, currently is president and chief executive officer of Control Automation TechnologiesCorp., a precision test equipment calibration service laboratory in Charles City County.

Watson didn't become active in politics until the early 1990s, when he got involved with state-levelcampaigns in North Carolina. There, he worked with some congressional campaigns, notablyRichard Burr's successful 1994 bid for the U.S. House of Representatives. Burr, a fellowRepublican, is now a U.S. senator.

Eventually, Watson decided to run for office out of frustration with what he sees as the adversarialrole that federal regulators have with industry. However, he says that an experience watching a voteon the floor of the U.S. Congress, where representatives were coerced by higher-ranking partyofficials to change their votes, convinced him that federal politics was not the place for him.

"You can come here with the best intentions and be forced to do something you don't want to do, orelse they will destroy your political career," Watson said. "I called my wife and said, 'Washington'sbroke; the states are going to have to fix this.' "

So last year, Watson took on Delegate Robin Abbott, a Democrat from Newport News. Abbott, anattorney, had won the 93rd District seat in 2009, after Republican Phil Hamilton was convicted oncorruption charges and resigned.

In the November election, Watson received 52 percent of the vote to Abbott's 48 percent.

Watson points to his father, whom he frequently refers to as a tugboat captain but whose primaryemployment was as a millwright at Allied Chemical in Hopewell, as a major influence on his viewsand personal politics.

Watson's views on jobs, business, taxes and the economy are as stoically practical as you wouldexpect of a machinist's son, which are evident in his hopes for this session.

"Virginia is already rated by some as the best business state," he said. "I want our slogan to be'We're already the best business state, and we're getting better.' "

Watson wants to loosen business regulations and do away with taxes that he feels deter smallbusinesses like the ones he started from setting up in Virginia.

He is sponsoring several bills requested by constituents. They include House Bill 584, which wouldallow localities to perform maintenance on highway medians, a task reserved for the VirginiaDepartment of Transportation. Williamsburg officials requested that legislation to keep the corridorbetween Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg neat during tourist season. Born: Hopewell onSept. 19, 1961

Education: Technical degree in instrumentation technology from New River Community College inDublin, 1983

Occupation: Business owner

Email: DelMWatson@house.virginia.gov

Phone numbers: 698-1093 for his Richmond office; 757-645-5298 for his district office inWilliamsburg